The Parents Circle-Families Forum

The Parents Circle-Families Forum (PCFF) is a grassroots Israeli-Palestinian organization made up of people who have lost immediate family members in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Its central premise is that reconciliation between affected communities is not an optional consequence of a peace agreement but a condition for durable peace. Rather than asking members to minimize or erase their grief, the organization uses personal testimony and shared mourning as the basis for dialogue, mutual recognition, and opposition to revenge. The organization was established in 1995 by Yitzhak Frankenthal and several other bereaved Israeli families. Frankenthal became involved in the initiative after the 1994 kidnapping and killing of his 19-year-old son, Arik, an Israeli soldier. The group subsequently built relationships with Palestinian families who had also lost relatives. Its early contacts with families in Gaza began in 1998, although the connection was interrupted during the Second Intifada. By 2000, PCFF had reestablished contact and expanded its participation to families from the West Bank, including East Jerusalem. PCFF's principal activity is the Dialogue Encounters program. In these sessions, an Israeli and a Palestinian member commonly present their personal stories to a group and explain why they chose dialogue and reconciliation over retaliation. The organization describes the encounters as a way to humanize people on the other side of the conflict and to create opportunities for Israelis and Palestinians to meet at a time when such contact has often become difficult. For many participants, the sessions are their first direct conversation with someone from the other community. The organization has also developed longer-term educational and cultural programs. Its Narrative Project brings together Israeli and Palestinian participants from similar professional, social, or demographic backgrounds. Through a process known as the Parallel Narrative Experience, participants hear and examine each community's personal and national narratives. Groups have included students, educators, physicians, mental-health professionals, artists, media workers, social activists, grandmothers, young political leaders, and members of peace organizations. PCFF has also operated the Reconciliation Center, which supports public discussion through film screenings, lectures, professional panels, educational materials, and events connected with International Peace Day. Other initiatives have included an annual summer camp for bereaved Israeli and Palestinian young people, the Hello Shalom telephone hotline, bilingual radio programming, and online projects intended to encourage everyday contact across communal boundaries. The group has participated in exhibitions, documentaries, public events, and meetings with political and religious leaders. Its members have appeared in films including Encounter Point, Another Side of Peace, After the Silence, One Day After Peace, Within the Eye of the Storm, and Two Sided Story. PCFF is a registered not-for-profit organization operating from offices on both sides of the conflict. The Wikipedia reference identifies Mazen Faraj and Nir Oren as its Palestinian and Israeli co-general managers, respectively. The organization has received international recognition for peacebuilding and tolerance work, including the 2011 UNESCO-Madanjeet Singh Prize awarded to Khaled Abu Awwad, the Gwangju Prize for Human Rights, and the 2025 Nuremberg International Human Rights Award. It has also faced opposition: in 2011, Israel's education minister restricted some PCFF school meetings involving relatives of Palestinians whom he characterized as terrorists, arguing that the education system should not equate terror victims with terrorists. Despite such controversy, PCFF continues to present bereaved families' cooperation as a practical model for rejecting violence and sustaining human connection.

The Parents Circle-Families Forum emerged from the experience of bereaved families living on opposing sides of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Its immediate background was the killing of Arik Frankenthal, a 19-year-old Israeli soldier who was kidnapped and killed by Hamas in July 1994. His father, Yitzhak Frankenthal, responded by joining with other bereaved Israeli families to establish the organization in 1995. The founders sought to turn personal loss into an argument for reconciliation rather than retaliation. The organization began developing direct relationships with Palestinian bereaved families. In 1998, it held its first meetings with Palestinian families in Gaza. Those ties were later interrupted by the Second Intifada, but PCFF reestablished contact in 2000 and broadened its network to include families from the West Bank, including East Jerusalem. The resulting structure brought together Israeli and Palestinian members who did not share a political position on every issue but did share the experience of losing immediate relatives and a commitment to nonviolent engagement. Dialogue Encounters became the organization's broadest public activity. These meetings generally feature one Israeli and one Palestinian member who recount their experiences of bereavement and explain their decision to pursue dialogue. The program is designed to provide both emotional testimony and a practical first contact between communities that increasingly have few opportunities to meet. PCFF presents this contact as a means of challenging stereotypes, recognizing the humanity of the other side, and making reconciliation part of public life rather than leaving it solely to political negotiations. From 2010, PCFF expanded its work through the Narrative Project. The project formed groups of Israelis and Palestinians with shared professions, interests, or social identities and brought them together repeatedly. Its Parallel Narrative Experience encouraged participants to learn how personal memories and national histories are constructed and experienced on each side. Groups included students, educators, medical and mental-health professionals, artists, journalists, social activists, political figures, grandmothers, and members of other peace initiatives. Activities included separate and joint meetings, as well as visits to sites such as the former Palestinian village of Lifta and Yad Vashem. The History Through the Human Eye Project supported the creation of the Reconciliation Center. The center served as a public venue for debates, film screenings, lectures, professional discussions, and International Peace Day events. It also assembled Arabic-, Hebrew-, and English-language books, articles, and films relating to the conflict and reconciliation. In parallel, PCFF organized an annual August summer camp for bereaved Israeli and Palestinian children and adolescents, with activities intended to build trust and familiarity. The organization has repeatedly used communications and popular culture to widen its reach. In 2002, it launched Hello Shalom, a free telephone hotline that enabled Israelis and Palestinians to speak with one another. In 2010, it created the Crack in the Wall Facebook project, using social media to encourage ordinary people, rather than only established peace activists, to communicate across the physical and psychological barriers of the conflict. Between 2005 and 2007, members hosted New Direction, a bilingual Hebrew-Arabic radio program on All for Peace Radio. The program featured Israeli and Palestinian members explaining their choice of dialogue over revenge. PCFF has also organized public exhibitions and symbolic events. In 2002, it displayed coffins covered by Israeli and Palestinian flags outside the United Nations in New York. A 2007 United Nations exhibition, Offering Reconciliation, presented ceramic plates created by 135 Israeli and Palestinian artists. In 2009, Cartooning in Conflict presented political cartoons addressing the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and subsequently traveled through Israel, New York, London, Italy, and Spain. The Blood Relations Project, held for International Peace Day in 2011 with Saatchi and Saatchi, used blood donation as a metaphor for shared humanity. The forum's members have met political and religious leaders, including Yasser Arafat, Shimon Peres, and King Abdullah of Jordan. The organization was referenced in U.S. President Barack Obama's 2011 Middle East speech, and representatives were invited to a meeting associated with Pope Benedict XVI and institutions promoting interreligious dialogue. With USAID assistance, PCFF also helped create Good Intentions, a ten-part television drama about an Israeli and Palestinian attempting to produce a cooking show together. Documentaries have extended the organization's public narrative. PCFF members and activities appear in Encounter Point and other films focusing on bereavement and reconciliation. Two Sided Story, produced in 2011, followed 27 Israeli and Palestinian participants in the Narrative Project, including settlers, Orthodox Jews, former prisoners, nonviolent activists, Holocaust survivors, and religious Muslims. The film was produced by Israeli and Palestinian companies and screened in Israel, Europe, and the United States. PCFF has received a range of international peace and human-rights recognitions. These include the Gandhi Foundation International Peace Award, the Search for Common Ground award for Middle East peacebuilding, the Three Cultures award for Peace and Dialogue, the Gwangju Prize for Human Rights, and the 2025 Nuremberg International Human Rights Award. It has also encountered political opposition. In 2011, Israel's education minister restricted some school meetings involving Palestinian relatives described by the minister as relatives of terrorists. The dispute illustrated the difficulty of presenting reciprocal bereavement and reconciliation narratives within formal education systems affected by ongoing violence. PCFF remains an active not-for-profit organization with offices in Israel and Beit Jala.

• 2025

  Nuremberg International Human Rights Award

  [1]The Parents Circle-Families Forumen.wikipedia.org

  PCFF received the award for maintaining communication and reconciliation efforts between Israelis and Palestinians.

• 2011

  Two Sided Story produced

  [1]The Parents Circle-Families Forumen.wikipedia.org

  A feature documentary followed 27 Israeli and Palestinian participants in the organization's Narrative Project.

• 2010

  Narrative Project and Crack in the Wall

  [1]The Parents Circle-Families Forumen.wikipedia.org

  PCFF expanded its structured narrative exchanges and launched a social-media initiative to encourage Israeli-Palestinian communication.

• 2007

  Offering Reconciliation exhibition

  [1]The Parents Circle-Families Forumen.wikipedia.org

  The organization presented an exhibition at the United Nations featuring reconciliation-themed ceramic works by Israeli and Palestinian artists.

• 2002

  Hello Shalom launched

  [1]The Parents Circle-Families Forumen.wikipedia.org

  A toll-free telephone hotline was created to facilitate direct conversations between Israelis and Palestinians.

• 2000

  West Bank participation expanded

  [1]The Parents Circle-Families Forumen.wikipedia.org

  PCFF reestablished connections with Palestinian families and included members from the West Bank, including East Jerusalem.

• 1998

  First meetings with Palestinian families in Gaza

  [1]The Parents Circle-Families Forumen.wikipedia.org

  The organization began direct meetings with Palestinian bereaved families in Gaza before the relationship was disrupted by the Second Intifada.

• 1995

  Organization founded

  [1]The Parents Circle-Families Forumen.wikipedia.org

  Yitzhak Frankenthal and other bereaved Israeli families founded PCFF to promote reconciliation and peace between Israeli and Palestinian families.

A bereaved-family-led peacebuilding and reconciliation organization that uses personal testimony, sustained dialogue, and shared civic projects to challenge violence and promote Israeli-Palestinian mutual recognition.

• Dialogue and peace education

  Dialogue Encounters

  PCFF's central public program brings Israeli and Palestinian bereaved members together to share personal accounts of loss and explain their commitment to reconciliation. Sessions are delivered to schools, community groups, and other audiences. The program aims to create direct human contact, challenge dehumanizing assumptions, and demonstrate that grief can lead to dialogue rather than violence.

• Structured dialogue · 2010

  Narrative Project

  Started in 2010, the Narrative Project organizes Israeli and Palestinian groups with similar professional or social backgrounds. Participants meet repeatedly through the Parallel Narrative Experience, learning how the other community understands its history and identity. The program has included educators, students, health professionals, artists, journalists, activists, and political leaders.

• Public education and cultural programming

  Reconciliation Center

  Developed through the History Through the Human Eye Project, the center provides a setting for public debate, film screenings, lectures, and discussions with academics and civil-society figures. Its multilingual collection of books, articles, and films makes material on the conflict and reconciliation available in Arabic, Hebrew, and English.

• Telephone dialogue service · 2002

  Hello Shalom

  This toll-free hotline, introduced in 2002, enabled Israelis and Palestinians to speak directly without charge. The project was intended to make ordinary interpersonal contact possible across political and physical separation and reportedly received more than one million calls.

• Youth peace education

  Bereaved youth summer camp

  The annual summer camp brings bereaved Israeli and Palestinian young people together for trust-building and relationship-building activities. The reference material states that the camp serves approximately 50 children each year.

• 2011Blood Relations Project

  Israel · Palestinian territories

  Conducted for International Peace Day with Saatchi and Saatchi, the project invited Israelis and Palestinians to donate blood as a symbol of shared humanity and healing.

  Outcome. The campaign communicated its message through the question of whether people could hurt someone whose blood runs through their veins.

  Source
• 2010Crack in the Wall

  Israel · Palestinian territories · Online

  The Facebook initiative used social media to encourage Israelis and Palestinians outside established activist circles to communicate and cooperate.

  Outcome. The project received an honorable mention in the 2013 Intercultural Innovation Award.

  Source
• 2009Cartooning in Conflict

  Israel · United States · United Kingdom · Italy · Spain

  PCFF organized an exhibition of political cartoons by internationally known cartoonists addressing the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

  Outcome. The exhibition traveled through Israel, New York, London, Italy, and Spain.

  Source
• 2007Offering Reconciliation

  United States · International

  PCFF presented ceramic plates created by 135 Israeli and Palestinian artists to express different visions of reconciliation.

  Outcome. The exhibition was shown at the United Nations and used art to communicate a shared peace message.

  Source
• 2002United Nations Coffin Display

  United States · International

  PCFF displayed coffins draped in Israeli and Palestinian flags outside the United Nations in New York as a visual representation of the human cost of the conflict.

  Outcome. The event brought the organization's bereaved-family message to an international public forum.

  Source

• 2011

  Restriction of selected school meetingsOther

  Background

  Israel's education minister responded to a complaint about school meetings involving bereaved Palestinian relatives whom he characterized as relatives of terrorists.

  Action taken

  The ministry disallowed certain PCFF meetings within the school system.

  Aftermath

  Several schools protested, while the minister defended the decision by distinguishing terror victims from people associated with terrorism.

  Source

• 2010

  Expansion into narrative-based dialogue and social mediaStrategy

  Background

  PCFF sought to move beyond one-time testimony sessions and reach broader segments of Israeli and Palestinian society.

  Action taken

  It expanded the Narrative Project and launched Crack in the Wall on Facebook.

  Aftermath

  The organization developed sustained exchanges among professional and social groups while using online communication to widen participation.

  Source

• 2002

  Launch of the Hello Shalom hotlineStrategy

  Background

  Direct contact between Israelis and Palestinians had become increasingly difficult because of the conflict and restrictions on movement.

  Action taken

  PCFF created a free telephone channel intended to enable ordinary people on both sides to speak directly.

  Aftermath

  The hotline reportedly generated more than one million calls and became one of the organization's most prominent communication initiatives.

  Source

1. 1The Parents Circle-Families Forumen.wikipedia.org
2. 2Official website of The Parents Circle-Families Forumtheparentscircle.org